During times like these, when we are often feeling low, isolated, and anxious, it is easy to lose sight of the good things. However, it is when we are feeling the worst that it is most important to hold on to them; although they may feel insignificant at times, we have to find those silver linings amongst this incredibly dark cloud. Gratitude is an excellent practice, and can help boost your mood immensely – it is often good to think of just a few things you are grateful for every day, so, to start you off, here are 6 small but mighty things to be grateful for during lockdown.
Speaking to Friends & Family
Although we admit it’s not the same as in-person, speaking to loved ones on Zoom, Facetime, and social media is more important than ever to make sure we are staying connected with others, and not feeling too isolated. In fact, that we often cannot see our loved ones in person is perhaps what makes those short, virtual moments so special.
Time to get to know yourself
Although one of the most difficult aspects of lockdown has undoubtedly been the seemingly never-ending loneliness, perhaps this is a blessing as well as a curse. We have had more time than ever to figure things out about ourselves, learn to enjoy our own company, and just think. In fact, when everything goes back to some semblance of normality, those moments to ourselves may well be what we miss most.
Exercising in private
Although the closure of gyms was inconvenient to say the least, we are all a little more than pleased about the lack of anxiety, pressure, and intimidation that comes with attending a real gym. No more fear of judgment from terrifyingly muscley trainers or packs of posers, and no more personal best envy; just you, your set of weights off Amazon, and complete privacy in your studio flat.
Going to work in pyjamas
Perhaps 2020-21 will go down as the only time in history when it was completely acceptable to sit down to work every day in your pyjamas. Whilst not everyone is working from home, those that do are familiar with the usual morning routine of waking up at 5 minutes to 9, perhaps putting on a formal top solely for Zoom calls, and sitting down in front of the computer in seasonally decorated, pink, fluffy, PJ bottoms.
Picking up new hobbies
One thing to be grateful for since the beginning of lockdown is the inordinate amount of time we now have to ourselves to pursue whatever it is we have always wanted to. We can cook, sew, clean, think, write, run, create, organise, paint, or learn as we’ve never done before. It is arguable that no larger amount of banana bread has ever been baked, nor cupboards decluttered than in the era of Covid-19.
No FOMO
Saving the best for last, the most welcome aspect of lockdown is undeniably the lack of FOMO (‘fear of missing out’ for the less colloquially-oriented). Whilst we do all miss going to pubs, clubs, and restaurants, we can agree that when no one is doing it, a great deal of pressure and anxiety is lifted about whether or not to go, and inevitably feeling that you’ve made the wrong decision whether you do or do not. We can now all stay at home watching Netflix, safe in the knowledge that everyone else in the country is too.
